The Kluiters

The CIRCUS comes to town....

2008-10-01T09:36:00.002-05:00

In the "better late than never" category, we went downtown a few weeks ago to see the Barnum and Bailey circus at the new Sprint Center. Uncle Paul, Aunt Audrey and Anthony and Kaylee were in town from Germany, so we had quite the crew!

The circus was so AWESOME! I hadn't been to a real circus since I was a small kid...I hardly remember it. Abbie and Lauren loved it! Their favorites were the trapeze artists, elephants and...the performing dogs. Yes, the dogs. With all the "bigger than life" exhibits and animals, they liked watching the dogs dressed up in dresses doing tricks...oh to be a kid again!

The BESTEST birthday party ever....well, not really.

2008-09-16T10:42:00.005-05:00

Ok, since you are all dying to know and e-mailing me with "what happened??" "I have to know!"--here's the story.

The "plan" was a swimming party at Lifetime Fitness from 5pm-7pm for Lauren's 5th birthday. Pizza, cake, presents first, then an hour in the indoor pool. Now remember, its already chilly here, so swimming is such a big deal this time of year.
It all started out so beautifully....See picture 1.

All the kids come with their swimsuits and goggles on...we are heading up to the party room at 5:10...guess what...TORNADO WARNING...complete with SIRENS and EVACUATIONS TO THE LOCKER ROOMS! No, I"m not kidding. The party hadn't even started yet...AND GET THIS, we have to separate into BOYS and GIRLS to go to the appropriate locker rooms.--See Picture 2 & 3.

We are finally "released" from the locker room. We head upstairs to the party room. We have pizza and drinks. The party lady begins to cut the cake...and guess what...another TORNADO siren. So we load up all the kids again, seperate boys from girls, and head down to the Locker rooms again. To pass the time, we play charades, Simon Says...you get the drift. Then the lady comes on over the loudspeaker and tells us we CANT leave the locker room there is a tornado within 10 miles of the gym. SERIOUSLY? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I'm "locked" in the gym locker room with 15ish 4 year olds, their siblings and a few moms and dads (remember, none of them were allowed to leave, unless it was at their own risk?!?!?) ...Oh, and did I tell you my Aunt and Uncle and 2 cousins are visiting from Salt Lake City and are living in Germany, now, and have NEVER been through a tornado...yeah, seriously. So after about 20 minutes the tornadoes move on out and we had back to the party room for cake...I decide to forget opening presents and decide to let the kids swim for the rest of the time because its been so crazy.

ARE YOU READY?
CAN YOU THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE THAT COULD HAPPEN?

THE LIGHTING DETECTOR KEEPS GOING OFF, SO THEY WONT LET US SWIM!!!
Try explaining that to 15 four-year olds, wearing swimming suits and swim goggles.

So my party people quickly blow up the bounce house, pull out the parachute and scooters and the party continues to the gym. So the kids had to forego the swimming, but got to play in the gym instead. See picture 4.

In the car on the way home, still having not opened presents, Lauren says..."This was the worst birthday party ever." Yep, it pretty much sucked. But...most of the kids didn't even know what was going on...no one freaked out over the tornado, cried, or complained (too much.).

Lauren's birthday party...

2008-09-14T20:01:00.003-05:00

We had Lauren's birthday party this weekend...it was...ummm...quite interesting...almost a COMPLETE disaster...ALMOST. I don't think I can quite put into words what happened yet...I'm not ready to re-live it just yet. Maybe tomorrow...stay tuned. :) You probably wont believe it.

Jonas update...

2008-09-14T19:59:00.002-05:00

Here are some new pics of Jonas...he's getting so big! I'm happy to report that he and the cat seemed to have come to an "understanding"--the cat doesn't really care for Jonas, but she will put up with him. Jonas still loves to chase him and play!

He weighs a whopping 10 pounds!

Labor Day weekend

2008-09-14T19:53:00.002-05:00

Over Labor Day weekend, we sent Jonas to cousin Brenda's for the weekend, and off we went to Des Moines. All of Jon's mom's family got together from all over--Minnesota, Colorado, and Iowa to celebrate Jon's grandma and grandpa's 60th wedding anniversary. Can you believe it!!

We had a busy weekend...but best of all...we stayed at a hotel with a pool and hot tub! That's all the girls needed to hear. We went out for dinner, went to Saylorville Lake, and even played "The Newlywed Game" one night to see how well we knew our significant others. I could not believe just how much Jon's grandpa and grandma remembered from way back when.

It was so much fun, even though the only ones missing were Sara, Bob and baby Elsa, and of course their newest addition, Grady. He was only 2 weeks old, so he couldn't fly from Pennsylvania just yet.

Lauren goes to Pre-K

2008-09-14T19:49:00.001-05:00

Ok, so I'm a little late posting this :(

Lauren finally headed off to Pre-K at the beginning of the month. She is already having so much fun. She even has homework, just like her big sister. She's so excited!

I have a 2nd grader...

2008-08-21T19:57:00.002-05:00

How did this happen...my little baby girl just started second grade. How time flies!

Abbie has always been so excited to go to school. Up until this year, she has gotten her first choice teacher...this year, nope. She's not very excited about school this year, but she's still a trooper and going with a smile on her face everyday--granted its only the second day.

I found this website with a neat recipe for a pencil cake for the first day of school. She loved it!

Here's to a great year!

Way back when...the BIG picture

2008-08-06T15:36:00.003-05:00

For all the cousins and aunts that saw the picture of Alice and my dad from....ummm...many years ago...I actually cropped it, there is a bigger picture...complete with Audrey, Kirk, Grandma and Great-Grandpa.

Thought I might share it for everyone...gotta love old pictures!! :)

Meet Jonas...

2008-08-04T14:27:00.003-05:00

I finally gave in. After months of hearing how much the girls wanted and NEEDED a dog, I gave in. Abbie has had her cat now for almost 2 years...and we are NOT cat people...she lives here only because Abbie loves her...does that sound bad?

Anyway, after driving all over Kansas...many times...we finally picked out the newest member of our family. His name is Jonas (after the Jonas brothers). He is a 12 week old Cockapoo who is totally cute. Still working on the housebreaking and getting along with the cat, but so far, he's fitting right in :)

Twins?

2008-07-08T16:00:00.008-05:00

I totally freaked out when I saw this!
The first picture is a picture of my dad and his sister, Alice from many years ago.
The second picture is a picture of Michael....

Check out my dad and Michael...

OH MY GOSH!!! Don't you think they could be twins?? The resemblance is CRAZY, don't ya think??

Let's Go Fishing!

2008-07-07T10:02:00.003-05:00

The girls have discovered their fun thing to do this summer...FISHING!

We took them out to Heritage Park on Father's Day, but we didn't catch ANYTHING :(
That must be because we didnt' take Paw Paw with us (He was in Florida). So the girls and I gathered up our backpack, picked up Paw Paw and Kiki, armed with real worms and Lauren's Dora fishing pole (of course!) and Paw Paw's tackle box and off we went. We probably caught 25 fish....a few sunfish, bluegill, crappie and even a catfish and bass. The girls loved it--even though Lauren had to take a break and head to the playground.

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-07T09:58:00.003-05:00

Happy 4th!

We started the day with an early bike parade at mom and dad's neighborhood, and then off to our friend's Troy & Nicole's for some fireworks and fun!

Butler County Fair

2008-07-06T17:21:00.003-05:00

We just got back from visiting Jon's family in Iowa last weekend. We went up because the fair was in town. This carnival is totally the small town fair that you'd think it would be...carnies, carnival rides, games and lots of food. It was so much fun, even though it was pretty cool for June...we wore sweatshirts and jeans!

It so fun for the girls to play all weekend with their cousins!

Parkersburg

2008-07-06T17:08:00.003-05:00

As many of you already know, Parkersburg Iowa was hit with a F5 tornado in May. That is the small town that Jon grew up in. It was devastating to hear about all the damage. Jon still has a few relatives that live there. Fortunately, his aunt and his uncle and their families were not injured, however they bost lost their homes. We saw all the news footage and some pictures and couldn't believe what we were seeing.

We went back to visit Jon's family this past weekend and I can't even explain to you how awful it was to see this small town that I have grown to love over the past 14 years. Parkersburg really was THE small Iowa town. It was so cute and so "Normal Rockwell." Seeing it in person was unbelievable! There are no trees left, everything is FLAT...there are only foundations where homes used to be. We heard so many stories of people who were in their basements while the tornado came into town...people's hearing aids being ripped out of their ears, second stories of people's homes being picked up and moved into their front yard, and even Jon's aunt's return address labels were found in Wisconsin! Amazing!

Aunt Carol's house used to be Grandma Gussie's before she died, so it was a very special place for all of us to gather for Christmas dinner, but unfortunately there wasn't anything left after the tornado. Jon's uncles house was also destroyed (its the first picture up at the top)...it used to be a 3 story home. He was at home in the basement when the tornade came through...it only took 39 second to go through town. When he and and his wife came up from the basement, he thought that maybe a window or two had been blown out...what a surprise to find his house was hardly standing.

There is quite a bit of rebuilding going on, but its very slow. There were over 300 homes that were completely demolished and there are only about 5 homes that have begun rebuilding. While we are so thankful that Jon's family was not hurt, it really brings home how thankful we need to be each and every day, and thank God for our families and our blessings.

SUMMERTIME

2008-07-06T17:03:00.003-05:00

So, yes, school's been out now for about 6 weeks...we've been awfully busy, but it doesn't seem that we've done that much. How come I'm always tired?
This summer has gone by so fast....I can't believe its already JULY! Abbie and Lauren have really been enjoying their summer...they have even gotten along really well, but I think that's about to change!

The big news this summer is that Abbie is finally riding her bike...all by herself! We bought her a new bike last fall and only got out one time to teach her. But lo and behold, she was ready to go in June! She still doesn't like to use her brakes, she'd rather just jump off the side of her bike---yikes!

I'm SOOO bad about blogging...

2008-07-06T17:02:00.001-05:00

Geez! Almost two months without blogging! I told you that I wouldn't be good at this. Seriously, I think about it all the time...how I just took all these pictures and how I need to upload them, but somewhere along the line I get sidetracked...hmmm, I'm really going to try and do better. Don't be surprised if I end up up posting 4 times today....Be careful what you wish for....:)

The CIRCUS!!

2008-05-13T20:00:00.002-05:00

We took the girls to their first ever circus last week. Our friend Troy is the Grand Pooba or President?? of the Lion's Club, and they brought the circus to town. Now, I've got to say that the only circus I've been to have been the big Barnum and Bailey type...this was definitely not the BIG circus. This was a small, and probably family-run circus.

They brought the elephants and a tiger, but we didn't get to see the tiger because she had just had 4 baby tiger cubs 4 days before and they were in the semi trailer...hmmmm, not sure how I feel about that, but anyway....

We were most impressed with the trapeze artist, the unicycles, the elephant ride and the balancing acts, and all the junk food we ate....blah! It really was a great show and the girls loved it, so that was what was most important.

Pajama Party!!

2008-04-28T19:02:00.002-05:00

Abbie had her birthday party last week...she decided she wanted some friends to spend the night...I told her 3 maximum...she told me she wanted 12...ummm, I don't think so. Instead, we opted for a 1/2 sleep-over with 14 first graders...what was I thinking????

They all came dressed in their pajamas. We decorated pillow cases with fabric paints, had a LOUD dance party in the basement, complete with Hannah Montana and all things High School Musical. The hit of teh night was the glow in the dark limbo.

I have to say the girls were so much fun!!! Yes, there was a lot of giggling and LOTS and LOTS of screaming, but they seemed to have a blast!

Do you wish you were there? Jon didn't... :)

How does this happen??

2008-04-14T13:35:00.006-05:00

How do 7 years go by so fast???

Seriously, she's a newborn, then you blink and she's 7!!!

Abbie turned 7 on Tuesday...my how time flies. She has grown into such a beautiful little girl. She is so happy, kind and fun. She's so awesome!

For her birthday she wanted to go out to her favorite sushi restaurant...yes, I said sushi. She loves this little sushi house that has a train that rides around the edge. You get to pull off your sushi plates as it comes around. She LOVES it! She ate 9 plates of sushi, and out-ate us all. Her favorites are shrimp, crab and yellow tail sushi...she eats it all raw!

So after sugar overload with High School Musical cupcakes at school with her friends and sushi train for dinner, Abbie called it a day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABS! WE LOVE YOU!

Dinner Auction

2008-04-14T13:21:00.005-05:00

Kerri & Amber
(Oh, and Phil & Rob in the background!)

Do you think she's $4500 cute?

Ok, so I'm a few weeks behind...but hey, at least I'm still blogging...

Jon and I went out with some good friends a few weekends ago to our church Dinner Auction. We have gone to the auction every year for the past 4 years, but this time, we went in style...in a Hummer limo. It's been a long time since we've been in a limo...Limo rides just haven't seemed necessary with small children...well thats about to change! I tell ya what...having a limo is the way to go...
1--I didn't have to bring a coat (even though it was FREEZING) because we get door to door service.
2--Wine and champagne (need i say more)--Dom Perignon, in fact!
3- No need for a designated driver!

So anyway, after a night of much wine, dancing, and bidding, we actually won something...and NO not the puppy that Jon wanted so badly...no way was I going to pay $4500 for a 4 lb dog--thats over 1k per pound!
We came home with Abbie's class basket...tons of gourmet coffee and goodies with a tray and coffee mugs that had thumb print animals decorating them. I'll see if I can snap a pic of it and post it...I know a few of you have asked for a pic.

Hope all is well with everyone!

EASTER 2008

2008-04-01T18:56:00.003-06:00

Look at this folks, I'm on a roll! 2 posts in a week!

Hope everyone had a great Easter....ours was a lot of fun, although very cold. I was just starting to believe that it was going to get warmer. I wasn't surprised that it was cold, being that Easter was in March!!

We went to church in the morning then to mom and dads to eat and veg out all day. The girls did an Easter egg hunt. They really did need their coats! Hopefully the warm weather is on its way!

Spring is here!

2008-03-25T19:17:00.002-06:00

Wow, its been almost 2 months since I've updated...I told you I'm not good at this.

Well, I suppose no news is good news these days. We finally seemed to have come out of our circle of sickness...Since Christmas we've all been relatively healthy, and I'm just so excited that are finally seeing the cold weather turn a bit warmer. This has been the COLDEST winter I can remember. It's been sooo cold for soooo long! I have had enough!! Soooooo, I decided we were going to go away for Spring Break. I took just the girls and headed south to Texas. I have a great friend from high school that lives in San Antonio. So the girls and I packed up and flew into Dallas for 2 days and then drove over to San Antonio with Christy and her 3 kiddos. We enjoyed the warmer weather and the kids had a ball playing from the minute they got up until the minute they went to bed!! It was crazy...I needed a vacation from my vacation when we returned home.

Enjoy our pics from Texas!

Dollhouse

2008-01-29T20:05:00.000-06:00

When I was 10, my grandfather made me the most beautiful dollhouse you've ever seen. He built it with his very own hands. Does anyone remember the tv show Too Close for Comfort? The big red and white house in San Francisco?? He modeled my dollhouse on it, and it looks exactly like it.

Anyway, it has survived 3 moves and crossed the state line to Kansas. When mom and dad moved her a few years ago they brought it to my house. I kept it in the basement securely tucked away until I thought the girls were old enough to take good care of it. Lauren LOVES to play pretend and spends hours playing with her dolls and barbies, so I decided it was time to get it out.

They both love it, but Lauren can't get enough of the dollhouse and wants to invite her friends over to play with it!

COOKIE TIME!

2008-01-29T20:00:00.000-06:00

Why, oh why did I volunteer to be the Cookie Mom for Abbie's Girl Scout Troop?

My friend Colleen told me its not that hard....doesn't take that much time....hmmmm!

Well, I'm re-thinking this job, after I order 51 cases of cookies and have to put down the seats in my car to pick them all up....

The girls thought this was great and made a fort in the dining room. Lauren even got our her cash register and opened up a cookie store!

Cookies anyone?

2008-01-29T19:55:00.001-06:00

Every year for New Year's we get together with a bunch of our friends from college. We are so lucky to still be such good friends from 10 years ago. This year Jon and I had everyone over to our house. Gone are the days of kegs and late nights (or early mornings)...now our "parties" consist of Chocolate Fountains, Guitar Hero and a glass of wine...oh! and children!

We had a great time with our 80's Retro-night...Gotta love Def Leopard, Madonna and Culture Club!!! LOVE IT!!!

The last picture is of Abbie right about 11:45 taking a quick nap on the bar stool...and yes, she does sleep with her eyes open, just like her mom! :)

2008-01-29T19:51:00.000-06:00

We're here!! We're here!!

It's been soooo long since I've posted...all because I couldn't find the cord to hook the camera up to the compter!!! But yes, we're back!

Not much new to report on our front, but Jon, Abbie, and Lauren have all been in a vicious cycle of sickness this year...coughs, fevers, sore throats and even PINK EYE!!! But not me...I've been the healthy one this whole time....I probably just jinxed myself.

Hope everyone is well!

Christmas 2007

2007-12-29T19:58:00.000-06:00

Christmas was quite exciting this year....it started precisely at 6:35 when Abbie announced she was going downstairs to see if Santa had come. We were able to divert her for about 20 minutes before Paw Paw & Kiki came to see the big "reveal."

It was a Christmas of American Girl Dolls, Littlest Pet Shops and their very own MP3 players. Oh, and how could I forget--the Sqwaker's Macaw--a talking life-size parrot. I think I'll have to talk to Santa about that one.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.

Oh ya, there is a link...right down at the end of the page to leave comments!!! We want to hear from you...ALL of you!! We want to know who is visiting our blog! Many of you have told me you read the blog...so leave a comment!! :)

Hope everyone has a safe and fun New Year's.

High School Musical...featuring Abbie Kluiter

2007-12-29T19:52:00.000-06:00

I must fill you in on Abbie's newest career---ACTING. She has always had a "thing" for putting on a good show, so we signed her up for a drama class that met up at her school for 6 weeks. Of course she was super excited because it was a take-off of High School Musical 2--her all-time favorite movie! She had a few lines and did great! She really enjoyed it and I'm sure we'll sign her up again.

Christmas in Iowa

2007-12-29T19:36:00.000-06:00

Yes, it sure has been a long time since I've updated....things haven't been all that exciting---I've been meaning to update for the past...ummm, well, ok...a month! yikes!

Since I last updated we've all suffered through the WORST stomach flu EVER!!! I was the only one that made it out. Abbie picked it up first at school (I heard it was going around!)--5 days!!! Then Jon got--he was sure he was going to die by the 5th day as well, and then Lauren got it, but not near as bad as Jon and Abbie. It was horrible...all in all, it lasted about 10 days between the 3 of them. Then, just to make matters worse, we thought Abbie was over the bug and we headed to Iowa for our big Christmas with Jon's family. By the time we got home on Sunday evening....we had infected Jon's mom, sister, step-sister and niece...can you even imagine??? I felt HORRIBLE!!! I hope everyone is finally feeling better now...and I've already started making alternative plans for Christmas 2008, as I'm sure we wont be invited back next year!! :P

Other than the sickness, we had a great time catching up with the family and the girls just LOVE meeting up with all the cousins, and of course the INDOOR POOL! Grandma and Grandpa were kind enough again this year to put us all up at a local hotel. Its about the only option as all the kids now have at least one baby. I think we had a total of 20 this year (plus 3 dogs!). We were only missing Tammy and her family, as they moved to Arizona this year and were not able to make it back for Christmas. All in all, it was a GREAT weekend! Thanks Jim & Sandi!

Christmas Elves...

2007-12-17T21:12:00.000-06:00

Yes, Yes, I know!! I haven't blogged at all in a month! I promise I'l try and catch everyone up this week....until then, we're joining the masses...we've been elfed....:)

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1509732531

Tag--I'm it??

2007-11-18T20:47:00.000-06:00

Ok, Lyndee, you asked for it!

How long have you been together? We've been married 10 years..yikes!

How long did you date? 4 1/2 years

How old is he? 33

Who eats more? HIM!

Who said "I love you" first? He did, but he thinks I did.

Who is taller? ummm, Jon for sure!

Who is smarter? It depends on what we're talking about...I think I'm pretty smart, but I know he was in the Gifted & Talented program in school...

Who does the laundry? Almost all me, but I wont do his clothes!!

Who does the dishes? Me, unless he's desperate.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you're looking at the bed, then Jon does.

Who pays the bills? ALL ME!

Who mows the lawn? Jon

Who cooks dinner? Me.

Who drives when you're together? He does most of the time.

Who is more stubborn? Probably me.

Who kissed who first? He did.

Who asked who out? He did!

Who proposed? He did, of course!

Who is more sensitive? Totally me.

Who has more siblings? Tie. We each have one other sibling, although Jon has 3 step sisters and a step-brother.

Who wears the pants in the family? Probably me. I'm much more organized and a better problem-solver.

Trunk or Treat

2007-10-31T13:22:00.000-06:00

Oh, and here are a few pictures from our Trunk or Treat last week. The first picture is after Lauren went and filled up her bag, we found her hiding in the back of the truck all wrapped up in a blanket scarfing down her candy!

Pumpkin Carving

2007-10-31T13:17:00.000-06:00

We carved our pumpkins last night...Abbie wanted to do a bat on hers, but then decided on a traditional jack-o-lantern. Lauren had Jon cut this elaborate spooky face one...

Lauren really loved getting all dirty with the pumpkin guts...

Dinosaur Exhibit

2007-10-30T18:49:00.000-06:00

Last week we finally got out to the Dinosaur Exhibit at Powell Gardens. We had planned to go back in August, but it was WAY too hot to go, so we put it off, and we almost didn't go last week because it was too cold...but we put on our heavy coats and headed out. Abbie didn't have school most of last week due to fall conferences, so we had a lot of free time.

Abbie has a fascination with dinosaurs so this was perfect for her. There were lots of life-sized dinosuars, most of which I had never heard of. They had some hanging in the trees (yuck!) and some HUGE ones guarding their nest of eggs. Interesting stuff. The girls really enjoyed it!

Bernese Mountain Dog

2007-10-28T12:16:00.000-06:00

Ok, here is a picture of the dog the girls are sooooo in love with. Don't you think that he looks like he belongs somewhere in the Alps...not in our backyard. But, he is really cute :)

I can't figure out how to post the pic..here is the link...

http://www.dale-gudbrand.no/HUND/C-Geilo%20100207.jpg

Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-25T20:35:00.000-05:00

Woh! Look at us! I don't blog for a month and then wah-la...2 posts in one day!

Last week we finally got out to the pumpkin patch. We tried to head out the week before but it rained ALL DAY LONG!! We've had quite a bit of rain lately, but last weekend was BEAUTIFUL! We took the girls out with Paw Paw and Kiki and Uncle Mike out to the pumpkin patch. They both picked our their own pumpkins straight off the vine. Afterwards they went running out into the corn fields...Then Abbie found the soybean plants and she was infatuated with pulling off the soybean pods(?) and pulling out the beans. She called herself the "Queen of Soybeans"--how funny is that!! She is so "suburbia"--totally not a country girl. She is afraid of grasshoppers and anything that flies! :)

The big hit of the day was when we met this nice lady with a horse, ok, seriously, it was a great big dog-- a Bernese Mountain dog. This dog was gorgeous...and the girls LOVED him. He was so calm and totally a lap dog...oh, and did I mention he weighs 125 pounds..yes, I said 125 pounds! We had been looking at little dogs for them for some day, far off in the future. Now, they both want a Burnese Mountain dog. Sure, 125 pounds--not gonna happen! We don't even have a fence! I'll see if I can find a picture, just so ya'll can see just how big this horse, er, I mean dog really is.

A Date with Daddy....

2007-10-25T16:03:00.000-05:00

Wow! How time flies. It seems like just yesterday when we brought Abbie home from the hospital. It was a rainy day, the week before Easter. She was so tiny. Now, 6 years later, she has her first date....with her daddy.

Last Friday night was the Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance. She was sooo excited...well, she was really excited to see her friends! The dinner was down at the club at Arrowhead Stadium where the Chiefs play football. So of course all the dads were excited...Abbie was excited because she and Jon drove down with her friend Marie and her dad. Jon said that Abbie happily ate dinner with him and then she was gone...just like that...out on the dancefloor with her friends. Jon said he got ditched for abotu 3/4 of the night. Abbie danced her heart out to High School Musical songs, Hannah Montana and Avril Lavigne. Abbie did oblige Jon and danced with him a few times, but she said she was "embaressed" dancing with her dad...???..all the other girls danced with their dads, too. Jon even got her (ie. I ordered and he picked up) a corsage...My how time flies...

Webkinz! Everywhere Webkinz!

2007-09-23T19:56:00.000-05:00

Lauren had her birthday party last Saturday. She and Abbie both convinced me to have a Webkinz party at the house. It has been YEARS since we've had a birthday party at our house--and now I remember why! I always love having someone else have to set up the party and clean up after we leave. All WE have to do is show up!

This year they really, really wanted a Webkinz party. It didnt take much convincing, as I even have my own Webkin--shshshhhh! don't tell! Well, I soon find out that Webkinz have not licensed their stuff yet--so no going to Party City and just buying the plates, banners, napkins and games. Oh no!! I had to come up with the games and actually MAKE them. Did you hear that MAKE them! Anyone who knows me at all, knows I have absolutely no creative bone in my body. But, we finally picked some games and wah-la...a Webkinz party is born. Oh, and did I mention I invited 15 four year olds---figuring only 10 or so would actually be able to make it....guess what! All 15 came!!! Imagine--15 four year olds INSIDE my house. Oh, and did I also mention, we had planned for an outside party--until it was 52 degrees and raining that morning.

Anyway, the party was a HIT! Webkinz galore--Pin the Tail on Scarlet (Lauren's cat Webkin), Candy Bash (pinata), Lily Padz, and we made our own Legendary Crowns of Wonder--and of course--the Employment Office--we made hamburgers for lunch.

So, all that matters is that Lauren and her friends had a great time. And next year,--we're going bowling! :)

Lauren starts Pre-School!!--finally!

2007-09-10T09:12:00.000-05:00

Finally, after almost 4 years of waiting---Lauren started Pre-School!! :)

Here in Kansas, the cut-off date is September 1, so Lauren missed starting school by just a few days. Last year when Abbie went off to Kindergarten, Lauren had a hard time--she was really ready to go to school, too!

This year she started at Lord of Life in the 3 year old room--even though she's going to turn 4 next week. She had her backpack packed and ready to go at LEAST an hour before it was time to leave. She has two of her friends in her class with her--Henry and Brett. I don't know what it is around here, but there are NO GIRLS her age. It's the same thing with Abbie's class, too. Out of 80 kids in Abbie's grade, only 21 are girls! Looks like both Abbie and Lauren will have to get used to playing with the boys!

Lauren was so excited when I picked her up from school on Tuesday. She told me all about the songs she sang and a few new friends she met. And of course, she told me all about snack. Anyone who knows Lauren, knows she's very food motivated!! :)

We don't have very much going on this week, but we're gearing up for Lauren's party on Saturday---a WEBKINZ party!!

Hope everyone had a great weekend...here are a few pictures of her first day!

Weekend? What weekend?

2007-09-05T14:59:00.000-05:00

Ever wonder why they call it a "long weekend?" I do, because it takes a LONG time to recover!

We sooo love having an extra day withoug work at the Munky store, but it just seems that we can always cram MORE into that extra day! Between the BBQ's, garage cleaning, swingset staining, and yard work, I'm beat!

The big news of the weekend was that Abbie got a new bike! Her old bike was WAY too small to learn how to ride without training wheels. Jon took her out on her old bike a few weeks ago and she was TERRIFIED to ride it. She's a pretty cautious kid, but she was missing one elbow pad, but had all the other gear, and of course a helmet, but was so scared it turned into a tantrum, so Jon just gave up. She's been scared to try again. So enter...new, flashy, pink and purple bike with STREAMERS on the handle bars and what amounts to a "purse" where they USED to put baskets back in my day. Oh, and she was INSISTANT that it have a kickstand...hmmm, we never figured out that one...but her don't worry....her new bike does have a new kickstand :)

All geared up with new elbow and knee pads and even WRIST guards(?)...can you say overkill? We took her up to school to let her try riding in the parking lot...and lo and behold...she is SOOOOO close to being able to ride by herself, but she is so afraid of falling she is almost too afraid to try.

Meanwhile, Lauren couldn't wait to get her hands on Abbie's old bike with the training wheels...she was off! She has no fear! She's definitely our risk taker!

So here are a few pictures of Abbie and Lauren's biking extravaganza!

Hope everyone had a fun and restful weekend...I think I'll go take a nap!

1st Grade---Here we come!

2007-08-23T21:00:00.000-05:00

Abbie started school on Wednesday!!! She is officially in 1st grade! How did this happen? Where have the last 6 years gone? Last we checked, we were bringing her home from the hospital in a heavy spring rainstorm in her car seat! We just stared at her...not knowing what to do next. Gosh, I can't believe how big she is!

She didn't have much to report...She gets along well with everyone and makes friends pretty easily, so I just have to assume that we'll only hear about school if its bad!

We started carpooling with our neighbors this year, and Abbie seems much more excited about riding with Anthony and Marie to school each day, then actually GOING to school! Ahh to be a kid again!

Lauren complained all day that Abbie wasn't home and asked constantly if it was time to pick her up yet. But, after Abbie came home Lauren just started jumping on her and even kicked her in the shoulder--don't know what that was all about! As you can probably tell, Lauren is my "spirited" child :) We just can't wait until pre-school starts for Lauren...T minus 12 days and counting....

So all seems well here. We are hoping for a quiet weekend and maybe 0ne last trip to the pool before it closes for the year. The girls will be devastated.

We finally did it!

2007-08-20T11:09:00.001-05:00

We finally did it! After months and months of talking about it--we finally have a blog! The Kluiter's have finally joined the techies!

I struggled with doing a blog at all--our lives just aren't that exciting on a day to day basis. But, since most of our families live far away, we thought this would be a great way to keep in touch and post pictures of the girls.

I can guarantee I wont be blogging everyday, but I will try to keep it up to date with our "happenings". Someone reminded me that family and friends out of town are interested in hearing from us and seeing pictures, even if it doesn't seem exciting to us!

The summer is coming to a close very quickly. Abbie had her 1 hour orientation/meet the teacher this morning. She has a great teacher--Mrs. Magsamen. She's excited and has a lot of great kids in her class this year.